The Gordon Research Conference on Bioenergetics is held every two years, alternating with the European Bioenergetics Conference (EBEC). The Gordon Conference represents the principle meeting held in the United States that brings together researchers working on the basic mechanism of energy transduction and its function and disfunction in whole cells. In the last few years a wealth of new structural information on the complex membrane proteins involved in oxidative phosphorylation has become available, and even more promises to be forthcoming for this meeting, schedule for July 1997. In terms of membrane proteins, this conference will provide new and refined structural information, unmatched in any other research area. The conference will highlight these new structures and the new mechanistic insights that they provide. There is also increasing understanding of the function and disfunction of mitochondria in whole cells, in programmed cell death, aging and disease. The latest results and novel technology that has led to major advances in these areas will be presented in an environment which will provide important communication between researchers studying basic mechanism and those attempting to relate fundamental knowledge to complex cellular responses. The key question in energy transduction, how ions are moved across membranes, will be addressed in sessions dealing with the role of water in proton movement and the function of other ion transport processes where there are relevant analogies and recent advances. The Bioenergetics Gorden Conference attracts the top researchers from all over the world, with usually about 30-50% foreign participants. Nevertheless, as a United States conference, we actively recruit and earmark slots for young American scientists to ensure their exposure to the best scientists in the field and reinforce their enthusiasm for research in this rapidly progressing area with its broad implication for health and disease. This application is for funds to support the participation of outstanding investigators, junior and senior, by providing registration, on-site expenses or travel expenses, as needed, for 20 individuals at $300 each.